‘Guest starring on The Apprentice’: Vogue’s brutal Melania Trump takedown
The ‘fashion bible’ slammed Melania Trump’s official White House portrait – prompting the First Lady’s fans to hit back.
Melania Trump’s new White House portrait has been slammed by American fashion bible Vogue with a writer comparing the first lady’s tuxedo look to that of a “freelance magician”.
“[Melania] Trump looked more like she was guest starring on an episode of The Apprentice than assuming the role of first lady of the United States,” writer Hannah Jackson wrote, referring to the black Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo jacket, white button-up and Ralph Lauren cummerbund the former model chose to wear for the picture.
Jackson then added, “The choice to wear a tuxedo — as opposed to a blazer or blouse — made Trump look more like a freelance magician than a public servant.”
The writer then claimed that perhaps the 54-year-old refused to “abandon theatrics” for the portrait since she lived in a “gold-encrusted penthouse” and her fame is “so intertwined with a reality-television empire”.
Jackson ended her piece with a backhanded compliment, stating that the new photo was a step up, however, from the first lady’s 2017 portrait, in which her face was “airbrushed into oblivion”.
She added, “This time, while the portrait remains more subdued, the Trumps are displaying wealth not through diamond rings but through the coterie of tech CEOs who sat in the front row at the 2025 inauguration, whose combined net worth was over a trillion dollars.”
Fans of Melania hit back at the magazine, with one writing, “She’s stunning and rarely misses when it comes to fashion … your opinions are trash and based purely on politics. Pathetic.”
Another added, “Vogue you are pathetic. Melania is beautiful and elegant.”
A third added, “@voguemagazine are haters and prove their positions are purely political. You all worshipped Jill Biden! LOL,” referencing the former first lady’s August 2024 Vogue cover.
The fashion publication, which is run by editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, perhaps has a bone to pick with Melania since she recently said she has “no interest” in appearing on their covers.
Earlier this week, the official portrait of the returning First Lady was released by the White House. The photo, in black and white, was taken in the White House residence by photographer Régine Mahaux.
Melania’s choice to wear a stunning black tuxedo paired with a crisp white shirt is a stark contrast to her predecessors in the role, who often used bright colours and the familiar settings of the White House to highlight their position as the president’s spouse.
The photo was taken on January 21, the day after the inauguration, in the Yellow Oval Room of the residence by photographer Régine Mahaux.
Mahaux, a Belgian photographer, is known for her portraits of the Trump family and she also took Melania’s portrait in her first term.
Indeed, it’s a very different Melania as her husband, Donald Trump, enters his second term. When she emerged sporting a wide-brimmed Zorro-like hat at her husband’s inauguration in Washington DC last week, there was an unflinching steeliness about her that had not been apparent during Mr Trump’s previous presidential term.
Whether that steadfast demeanour was down to the fact that her much-discussed hat largely obscured her eyes, keeping a barrier between her and the glare of the world’s spotlight – or her own husband’s attempts to kiss her on the cheek – is debatable.
But Melania 2.0 – and her family – appear a very different proposition to the Trump family who first entered the White House in 2017.
The 54-year-old kept a low profile during her husband’s first term in office and has made few public appearances in the four years since. But change is afoot, and she appears – like many in the Trump family – ready to embrace a return to the White House.
“It’s really clear that she has a confidence that we didn’t necessarily see the first time around,” Kate Bennett, author of Free Melania who extensively covered the First Lady’s first term, told CNN.
“She understands not only what’s at stake for this administration, but what’s at stake for her.”
In July, she made an unexpected appearance at the Republican National Convention (RNC), just days after an attempt on her husband’s life.
Her autobiography, published last October, shot straight to the top of the bestseller lists in the US while Amazon signed her to a multimillion-dollar deal to film a fly-on-the-wall documentary set for release later this year.
In recent months, she has given more interviews, and embraced the fact that there is a renewed public fascination surrounding her.
Back in the White House (although she’ll split her time between Washington DC, New York and Florida), Melania will have her own platform and initiatives, telling Fox News earlier this month that she plans to reboot her Be Best initiative, which focuses on childhood safety online.
She’ll also likely take on more public appearances on behalf of the Trump family after Ivanka Trump announced she would not return to Washington, preferring to keep a lower profile in Miami where she is now based with husband, Jared Kushner, and the couple’s three children.
“With the absence of Ivanka, Melania may feel more empowered to be the female figurehead of this administration,” Bennett said.
Ivanka and Kushner were arguably the most influential family members during Mr Trump’s first term in the White House with both holding senior adviser roles in the West Wing and Ivanka often representing her father on the global stage.
But the 43-year-old will not be a part of her father’s new administration, at least not in any official capacity.
“The main reason I am not going back to serve now is I know the cost, and it’s a price that I’m not willing to make my kids bear,” she said on a podcast earlier this month.
Whether Kushner takes on a new role remains to be seen, but his father, Charles, has been appointed US ambassador to France.
Donald Trump, Jr, who was a vocal – and occasionally unpredictable – member of his father’s first administration has emerged as an influential figure after the election, helping Mr Trump pick his cabinet from pushing the idea of JD Vance on his father as a VP candidate to, according to USA Today, blocking former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from joining.
Don Jr won’t be involved in his father’s administration daily, however. Late last year he joined conservative venture capital fund 1789 Capital which, according to its website, opposes “excessive bureaucracy” and focuses on conservative ideas such as “deglobalisation”.
He is also expected to continue to host his political podcast, Triggered.
Meanwhile, Don Jr’s former fiancee, the one-time California prosecutor-turned-TV-personality Kimberley Guilfoyle, has been made the US Ambassador to Greece by Mr Trump.
Eric Trump, Mr Trump’s third child, does not have the public profile of his older brother but was an honorary chair of Mr Trump’s transition team and a close adviser to his father. Eric is expected to focus more on running the Trump family business, which includes a crypto platform.
Eric’s wife, Lara, has become something of a rising star in the Trump family.
Early last year she was named the RNC co-chair and she was a keynote speaker at the RNC last July.
Lara’s name was even raised as a potential replacement for Florida Senator Marco Rubio who was nominated to be Secretary of State, but she withdrew from any consideration.
Tiffany Trump, the President’s 31-year-old daughter from his marriage to second wife, Marla Maples, has stayed largely out of the limelight and not maintained any political role in her father’s campaigns or time in the White House.
She has been married to businessman Michael Boulos since 2022, and they are expecting their first child.
Her father-in-law, Massad Boulos, was named by Mr Trump to serve as senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.
Then there’s Barron Trump, the youngest of the US President’s five children, who is studying business at New York University. Largely shielded from the spotlight during his father’s first term, the towering 18-year-old looks ready to step into the limelight.
“I have a very tall son named Barron. Has anyone ever heard of him?” Mr Trump said to a cheering inauguration crowd.
And Barron seems ready for the attention. During inauguration celebrations, he played up to the crowd, pumping his fists and putting his hands behind his ear as they chanted his name.
Mr Trump also said that it was his teenage son who urged him to appear on US broadcaster Joe Rogan’s influential podcast, which arguably had an impact on his re-election campaign.
Last May, Barron was floated as a Florida delegate for the RNC in July, but his mother later said that he had turned down the offer.
He is also launching a luxury real estate venture.
And a new generation of Trumps are also following close behind with Mr Trump’s granddaughter, burgeoning golfer and influencer Kai, already racking up more than 1.3 million Instagram followers, and posting from behind-the-scenes at her grandfather’s inauguration.
This time around, Mr Trump’s family will not hold as many formal White House roles in his administration as they did during his first term, but they’ll still remain significant parts of his political operation, and they’ll certainly have the ear of the new US President.
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Originally published as ‘Guest starring on The Apprentice’: Vogue’s brutal Melania Trump takedown